CVE-2026-97903
Received
Received - Intake
Reference Leak in Linux Kernel PID Handling
Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-97903, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.
Publication date: 2026-09-25
Last updated on: 2026-09-25
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
exit: hold a reference to thread_pid across proc_flush_pid
Commit 0a36bad01731 ("release_task: kill the no longer needed
get/put_pid(thread_pid)") removed the reference around proc_flush_pid().
It assumed that free_pids(post.pids) at the end of release_task() would
keep thread_pid alive until then.
That assumption is wrong. __change_pid() only records a detached PID in
post.pids when pid_has_task() is false for every PIDTYPE. If another task
still uses the exiting task's PID as its process group or session ID,
__unhash_process() removes the exiting task's PIDTYPE_PID link but leaves
the PID out of post.pids. release_task() therefore holds no reference to
it after dropping tasklist_lock.
The other task can then remove the remaining PIDTYPE links. Its
free_pids() call schedules delayed_put_pid(), and the RCU callback can free
the PID before the first release_task() reaches proc_flush_pid().
An unprivileged reproducer races wait4(-1) against setsid() to trigger this
ordering. Three of three fresh v7.2 KASAN boots reported:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in
proc_invalidate_siblings_dcache+0x3e2/0x3f0
Read of size 8 by task h7_pid_reaper/1921
Call Trace:
proc_invalidate_siblings_dcache
release_task
wait_consider_task
__do_wait
do_wait
kernel_wait4
Freed by task 0:
kmem_cache_free
put_pid
delayed_put_pid
rcu_core
Last potentially related work creation:
__call_rcu_common
free_pids
ksys_setsid
KASAN identified a 144-byte object from the pid cache and located the bad
read 80 bytes into the freed object, matching pid->inodes. With an
explicit reference, three of three fresh boots completed without a KASAN
report. The concurrent RCU callback dropped its reference while
proc_flush_pid() was protected, and the balancing put_pid() performed the
final free afterward.
Take a reference before __unhash_process() clears p->thread_pid and release
it after proc_flush_pid() completes.
A tested source reproducer is available privately on request. No
controlled read or write, information leak, or privilege escalation is
claimed. The mainline patch applies directly to v6.19.y and newer;
v6.16.y through v6.18.y need a context-adjusted backport.
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
| Probability: | |
| Percentile: |
Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | From 6.19 (inc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 6.16 (inc) to 6.18 (inc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | to 6.19 (exc) |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
KEV
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-UNKNOWN |
